Monkeys can learn through TV

The Universities of St Andrews and Vienna have collaborated to show that monkeys are more than pretty faces. St Andrews Professor Andrew Whiten, along with Dr Tina Gunhold and Professor Thomas Bugnyar, have proven that wild monkeys have the ability to learn new tricks as well as their captive counterparts.

Researchers filmed trained marmoset monkeys performing several foraging techniques to open an “artificial fruit” (basically a plastic box with goodies inside) by either lifting a lid or opening a drawer to receive their fruity reward. They then replayed these videos to the wild monkeys of Pernambuco, Brazil, who after observing their fellow monkeys expertly manoeuvre their way to a tasty treat, proceeded to do the same.

Twelve wild monkeys were shown clips of the contraption being opened while another twelve were given a simple still image. Needless to say all but one of the monkeys shown the videos were able to successfully open the box, with many copying the techniques shown in the video exactly, despite several different versions being shown.

This is the first time scientists have proven that wild animals, as well as trained captive ones, can accomplish tasks after watching others perform them – seems like our primate relatives are also very perceptive.
Professor Whiten notes that the separation between humans and primates is not so wide stating that “our research is showing that the basic elements of social learning and… different regional traditions is shared much more widely amongst primates and other animals”.

Now this maybe not be a precursor to the Planet of the Apes but this new research, as Vienna’s Dr Gunhold has added, “could open up a range of possibilities for… studying the basis of culture in animals”, and the fact this first step was led by St Andrews is pretty impressive.

Image courtesy of Pixabay.com